Southern California is taking a beating.
The combination of a Super El Niño, and a Kelvin wave raising sea levels, is creating a perfect recipe for coastal erosion chaos. And at Laguna Beach’s iconic Surf & Sand resort, the Pacific isn’t just the view anymore. It’s coming for the walls.
A newly circulated Instagram video, captioned “surf and sand seawall collapses,” purports to show a portion of the oceanfront barrier giving way. In separate footage, Laguna Beach surfer and skimboarding champion Blair Conklin documents powerful waves hammering the famed hotel. Check out the footage of the wall collapse below.
The luxury property is known for its rooms overlooking the water and Splashes, its restaurant perched practically above the surf. The hotel advertises “uninterrupted Pacific views” and dining “to the sound of waves below.” Those waves have become considerably less soothing.
The exact extent of the hotel’s structural damage has not been independently confirmed. But conditions along the coastline are well documented.
Consecutive hurricane-generated swells—including energy from Hurricane Rachel—have stripped protective sand from Orange County beaches. Surfline reported that overlapping Southern Hemisphere and tropical swells hit October 9 as water levels ran more than a foot above predictions.
“A 6.6-foot tide… would be a 7.6-foot high tide with the Kelvin wave,” Conklin warned, adding that combining those elevated baselines with massive storm swells creates unprecedented coastal destruction. “I’ve never experienced a Kelvin wave like this in my life.”
Part of that elevated baseline comes from a coastally trapped Kelvin wave associated with the developing Super El Niño. Unlike surfable waves, the enormous ocean pulse can quietly raise background sea levels by six to 12 inches, allowing breakers to reach farther inland.
“Every two or three inches counts in terms of the damage,” climate scientist Daniel Swain told CBS Los Angeles.
Laguna Beach City Manager Dave Kiff acknowledged the intensity of the October swell: “It’s actually larger than we expected.”
Related: Massive Cliff Collapse Near PCH Caught on Camera as El Niño Batters California (Video)
And the Surf & Sand isn’t the only alarming sight nearby.
Just north at El Morro, beside Crystal Cove State Park, Conklin filmed sections of a cracked coastal bluff crumbling toward the beach, dangerously close to Pacific Coast Highway.
“I literally just watched part of the cliff fall,” he said in footage previously reported by SURFER. Caltrans has closed a southbound lane while assessing the slope; the road itself has not collapsed.
With another potentially powerful El Niño winter approaching, Southern California’s shoreline appears to be running out of breathing room.
Related: 1,000-Mile Kelvin Wave Touches Down in SoCal. Here’s What to Expect
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